Sisters by the Force Part 2 - Duel of the Fates
by Master Windu
Summary: The mysterious 2-part adventure of Tionne, Callista, Cilghal and Tarissa. Inspired by Episode 1.


Disclaimer: This story is based up on material created by   
George Lucas and owned by LucasFilm, Ltd. It contains   
references to places, space craft, and belief systems from   
the Star Wars saga. It contains characters created by Lucas   
and other Star Wars writers. The events depicted herein   
were created by this writer as were certain original   
characters. These events and characters are owned by this   
writer as is this story. It may be freely redistributed or   
reproduced as long as no alterations are made. The   
characters created by the writer of this story may be used   
only with permission.  
  
Sisters by the Force  
  
The mysterious two part adventure of Tionne, Callista,   
Cilghal, and Tarissa, an interesting new character. In   
search for Callista's powers, these 'sisters'will explore  
Dathomir, the very existence of the Force itself, and   
temptations of the Dark Side. Inspired by new information   
about the Force in The Phantom Menace.  
  
  
Title: Sisters By the Force  
Category: New Republic  
*Chronology: 11 yrs. after ROTJ; 3 after Children of the   
Jedi, Darksaber, and Planet of Twilight.  
Spoilers: Children of the Jedi, Darksaber, The Phantom   
Menace (info but not events)  
Author: Mike Milburn[ masterwindu@starwarsemail.com][1]  
  
  
Part 2 - Duel of the Fates  
[*2 weeks after [Part 1][2]]  
  
"You can't win, but there are alternatives to   
fighting."  
-Obi-Wan Kenobi  
  
_Chsshh_ The lightsabers clashed as Cilghal blocked -   
Callista's topaz blade against the Mon Calamarian's blue-  
green saber. Cilghal jumped back as Callista lunged with a   
kick.  
"Callista, stop!" the Jedi Knight beckoned. "The Dark   
Side is not the answer!"  
Callista glared at her rival with Dark Jedi eyes that   
penetrated freely with the Force. "Don't patronize me,   
Cilghal. I know this isn't the way, but you have the way,   
and you won't give it to me! Until you're willing, _this_   
will have to do." She charged angrily at Cilghal,   
lightsaber in hand.  
Cilghal raised her blade to block again, locking the   
weapons by their own friction. She tried to reach into   
Callista's mind, but the fallen Jedi had closed it with the   
Force. "Callista", Cilghal begged, "what would Master   
Skywalker say?"  
Callista pressed her lightsaber against Cilghal's with   
raging strength and forced the Mon Calamarian to the hard   
floor of the _Blind Specter_'s corridor. She stepped back   
momentarily and spoke to Cilghal, "Luke would say the same   
thing you are - 'This isn't the way. Come let me help you.'"   
She scowled at Cilghal, accumulating that Force infusing   
anger. "There's a difference between you and him, though.   
Luke can't help me but would try; you can, but _won't_!"  
  
_How did this happen_, Cilghal wondered as she   
prepared herself for another of Callista's attacks. It had   
all started on Calamari...  
  
************************************************************  
_Midi-chlorians she had called them_, Cilghal   
remembered at the floating city of Coral Depths. _Symbiote   
organisms found in every living cell._ In her message,   
Tionne had said that these midi-chlorians were what   
connected all living things to the Force. The more midi-  
chlorians you had, the more sensitive to the Force you were.   
  
Cilghal closed her large Mon Calamarian eyes. In all   
her years as a Jedi Knight, she had never considered her   
powers to come from any _symbiotes_. _Yet they are   
there..._ she observed as she focused in with the Force.   
She could sense them. They were physically small -   
unfathomably so, but Master Skywalker had taught, "Size   
matters not," and Cilghal had learned the lesson for herself   
through her Jedi medical training.  
  
The Jedi of the Old Republic had possessed instruments   
to determine one's midi-chlorian count from a blood or   
tissue sample, but Tionne had said there were no traces of   
this technology in the Jedi records, just vague references   
to it. That's why Tionne had contacted Cilghal. She wanted   
the Jedi Knight to use her medical Force talents to give an   
analysis on Callista's midi-chlorians, to see if that was   
the human's problem. Cilghal had invited them all to come   
to Mons Calamri for the procedure, and they would arrive   
soon.  
  
Cilghal concentrated and stretched out toward her own   
midi-chlorians again. She isolated her focus on less and   
less of them until only one midi-chlorian was left in the   
grasp of her mind. She _nudged_ it out of her own curiosity   
ever so slightly, ever so subtly.  
  
A sudden flash of fire spazzed upon Cilghal's moist   
quarters. She jumped back from it, her eyes racing for the   
extinguisher. It was no where in sight; fires were so rare   
on Calamari. Cilghal decided to take matters into her own   
Jedi hands. She calmed her mind and imploded the fire into   
itself until it was nothing more than a memory.  
  
A very mysterious memory...  
Apparently, these midi-chlorians were not to be   
touched. Identified, maybe, but never altered. What might   
have happened if they had been pushed instead of tapped?   
Maybe just a larger fire. _More likely a planetary   
apocalypse_, Cilghal surmised.  
  
************************************************************   
"Help me, Tionne!" Cilghal begged. "Please! We're   
friends!"  
  
Tionne stood by Tarissa, staring at the Mon Calamarian   
and Callista as they dueled. Topaz on turquoise. Jedi   
against Jedi. Friend against friend. Tionne wanted to help   
Cilghal... knew she should...  
  
_No_, she told herself. Tionne knew what she was   
doing. Cilghal wouldn't do the operation, so it had to be   
like this. She wouldn't give the Force to Callista.   
Wouldn't give it to Tionne herself...  
  
_No_, Tionne argued inside. _That's selfish...   
That's not what I want..._  
  
_No_, she told herself again or at least herself was   
told. _Cilghal is the selfish one. She has the power of   
the Force to freely give, but she won't. Callista could be   
with Master Skywalker. You could be a Jedi Knight... were   
it not for Cilghal's stubbornness._  
  
Tionne turned away from the conflict, trying to cope   
with the one inside of her, but something forced her to turn   
back and face the duel again.  
  
She remembered that fateful conversation at Choral   
Depths...  
  
************************************************************  
"You knew, didn't you?" Cilghal asked. "You knew   
Callista wouldn't have any midi-chlorians."  
  
Tionne sighed. "Yes," she admitted. "Well, I assumed   
so, anyway. I just wanted to get your opinion."  
  
"No," Cilghal observed. "There's something more."  
  
Tionne had failed to physically hide what her powers   
certainly could not. It was so difficult to keep things   
from Jedi Knights. "I wanted you to - to do something more   
if Callista was, in fact, void of midi-chlorians."  
  
"What?" Cilghal inquired with growing suspicion.  
  
Tionne held her breath and gathered strength. Cilghal   
wasn't going to like this. "I wanted you to do - to do a   
midi-chlorian... transplant."  
  
"Are you insane?" Cilghal exclaimed, but she paused   
afterward. Apparently, Tionne wasn't the only one hiding   
something. Cilghal continued, "We have no idea what the   
repercussions of such an operation could be! Callista could   
die for all we know or..."  
  
"Worse," Tionne finished. She sensed an inappropriate   
amount of fear in Cilghal.  
  
"Much worse, Tionne."  
  
"But Cilghal, I'm sure Callista would be willing to   
take these risks at the chance to finally be with Master   
Skywalker. Besides," Tionne continued in that teacher tone   
she had always used with Cilghal, "it is morally demanded of   
you and I think you understand that."  
  
Cilghal shook her head in disappointment. "Then I   
pity your values, teacher."  
  
Tionne gazed at her former student with equal   
frustration. Tionne herself had been responsible for   
forming much of Cilghal's morals. How could they disagree   
on this?  
  
Cilghal explained herself. "Tionne, I know a living   
Force," she began in a personal creed. "It allows me to use   
it, even control it, but I am not permitted to choose on who   
else it will bestow these privileges. That is the will of   
the Force, and I will not disobey it."  
  
Tionne sighed again. She thought Cilghal had been   
taught better than this. "Not even at the cost of love,   
Cilghal?" she asked. "You're preventing Callista and Master   
Skywalker from being together."  
  
"Is that all I'm preventing?" Cilghal inquired though   
she already knew the answer. Tionne really had to work on   
that mind-barrier. "Or is it that I am preventing you from   
being a Jedi Knight?"  
  
Tionne looked into herself. It was so selfish... but   
was it really? "If the operation is successful on Callista   
- I don't see any reason-"  
  
"No," Cilghal reprimanded, reversing the roles of   
teacher and student yet again. The Jedi Knight seemed to be   
arguing inside of herself. Arguing about _something_...  
  
"Tell me," Tionne beckoned, identifying the problem   
through the Force. "Tell me what you don't want to."  
  
It was Cilghal's turn to sigh. "I didn't want to   
bring it up, Tionne. The less known about these midi-  
chlorians, the safer the galaxy is," she warned   
mysteriously. "When I had watched your message, I decided   
to practice for Callista on my own midi-chlorians. I could   
sense them inside of me. Out of curiosity, I decided to   
move one of them - the lightest touch I have ever dealt   
through the Force." Cilghal opened her large eyes wider   
than Tionne had ever seen them. "My room burst into flames,   
Tionne. I fear that the midi-chlorian disruption involved   
in a transplant would bring an _apocalyptic_ explosion."  
  
To Cilghal's extreme surprise, Tionne calmly stated,   
"I'm glad you brought that up."  
  
"What?" Cilghal bursted.  
  
"At first, Callista and I were also thinking something   
like that could happen. In fact, I had delayed telling   
Callista anything about midi-chlorian science because of the   
same fears you're having now. But Tarissa brought up a very   
good point. If upsetting midi-chlorians is so dangerous,   
why wasn't there any apocalyptic explosion when Callista's   
midi-chlorians were completely destroyed?"  
  
Cilghal clearly disagreed with Tarissa's keen   
judgment. "All I know, Tionne, is what happened when _I_   
tried to move them. And what is Tarissa's knowledge of the   
Force? Spells? Hexes?"  
  
Tionne answered patiently, "I know Tarissa may have a   
limited understanding of the Force, but regardless of this,   
her argument does make a lot of sense." Tarissa's judgment   
had been wise so far, and Tionne wasn't about to go against   
it.  
  
"No, Tionne," Cilghal spoke. "Midi-chlorians are too   
intimate with the Force. When they are irritated, they lash   
out in it. When something that immersed in the Force has a   
spasm, the results are unpredictable." She made her final   
decision. "I will not risk a galaxy on Callista."  
  
Tionne turned her face away from Cilghal. This was a   
lost battle. "Then you tell her," Tionne ordered. "I will   
not be the one to disappoint Callista again."  
  
************************************************************   
The darkness... That ultimate blackness... Tarissa's   
spell could _feel_ it emanating from the duel. Her plans   
were working better than she could have possibly let herself   
hope. Where were the mighty Jedi now? They were nothing   
more than pawns in the hands of the feared Nightsister   
Tarissa.  
  
Callista had given in to the Dark Side she had so   
tried to repulse. The Jedi Knight Cilghal was in a fight   
for her life against a former _ally_. And Tionne - Tionne   
was in the very grasp of Tarissa's commanding power. The   
envy spell was working like a charm... a particularly evil   
charm.   
  
And Tionne was becoming passive... _vulnerable_. Soon   
the final spell would at last succeed. Tionne's petty will   
was already under control, but soon it would be positively   
irrelevant. She would be powerless to stop Cilghal and   
Callista from destroying each other.  
  
_A Jedi slaying another Jedi is the sweetest site I   
ever hope to see_, Tarissa fantasized. She gazed hungrily   
at the dueling Jedi, allowing herself complete connection to   
the sacred spell of the Dark Ecstasy. Each slice was   
becoming fiercer; each thrust, more deadly. The Dark   
Ecstasy surged bliss through Tarissa's mind and body with   
every wrongful clash of the sabers.  
  
The darkness... that erotic blackness...  
  
All part of Tarissa's supreme plan that had started   
when the Jedis' ship was docked at that wretched planet of   
water...  
  
***********************************************************  
  
"She's not going to do it, Tarissa," Tionne informed   
with weak melancholy.  
  
"Why not?" Tarissa asked. _Other than the fact that   
Jedi have no respect for love_, she thought angrily. The   
release of Ammahak _would_ be revenged. No - it would be   
_a_venged.  
  
"Cilghal has the same fears that Callista and I had at   
first. She thinks moving midi-chlorians can lead to some   
sort of unpredictable chaos."  
  
Ignorant historian. "Did you not tell her my   
argument?"  
  
"Yes," Tionne answered, "but she did not see its   
wisdom."  
  
Good. Tarissa did not actually care about the midi-  
chlorian debate. All she wanted was a conflict among the   
Jedi, a gateway to further vengeance. Cilghal had just   
presented one. "How selfish of her," Tarissa observed.   
Instigation was such a delightful challenge.  
  
"I know," Tionne agreed. "I thought we had taught her   
better than this."  
  
"We?" Tarissa asked in that untruthful ignorance. _I   
smell a betrayal..._  
  
"Master Skywalker and I."  
  
Tarissa had figured as much. "How terrible of   
Cilghal. She's betrayed her teacher."  
  
Tionne agreed again. It was becoming a useful trend.   
"I don't see how she can keep Master Skywalker from Callista   
like that."  
  
"I wasn't talking about _that_ teacher, Tionne." The   
pathetic Jedi drooped her head, not wanting to admit what   
she knew she deeply desired. "Ala shaka lomarshek,"   
Tarissa whispered. _Let the envy grow within you, Tionne.   
Embrace it. Do not attempt to fight it._  
  
"I hate to think of it, Tarissa," Tionne explained.   
"It seems so wrong, but..." she trailed off in thought.  
  
Tarissa cast the spell again with small frustration.   
_Do not deny yourself, Tionne! Your envy belongs to you!_  
  
"It's not fair," Tionne stated hastily.  
  
_You belong to it._  
  
"I deserve to be a Jedi Knight more than any of them."  
  
_I deserve my revenge more than anything._  
  
"I have dedicated my life to the Jedi."  
  
_So have I..._  
  
"I know more about the Jedi than any of the others.   
Why don't I have the potential to be a Knight?"  
  
_Because you are unfit for power, weak one... but-_   
"Don't worry, Tionne," Tarissa falsely consoled. "Our   
dealings with Cilghal are far from over."  
  
And Tarissa's control of Tionne was just beginning.  
  
************************************************************  
  
The turguoise blade singed Callista's hair, barely   
missing something a little more vital. Cilghal jumped back,   
surprised by the accidental damage.  
  
"Damn you, Cilghal!" Callista hissed. "Just agree to   
the transplant and end this conflict!" She was losing   
herself in her anger, sloppily swinging her lightsaber at   
Cilghal with every word. It did not matter. Cilghal had no   
intention of killing her enemy.  
  
The same could not be said for Callista.  
  
"It's too dangerous, Callista!" Cilghal tried to   
explain.  
  
No. It wasn't too dangerous. Tarissa had explained   
all that. "You're wrong Cilghal. You're just being   
selfish!"  
  
Tarissa had explained all that, too...  
  
************************************************************  
  
Callista crept along the _Blind Specter*_'s passageway.   
She heard something... argument.  
  
Sure enough, she found it at the ship's entrance.  
  
"What do _you_ want?" Tarissa asked Cilghal. That   
was odd. Cilghal was here to help. Why was Tarissa so   
angry?  
  
"She's here to tell Callista her decision," Tionne   
explained with equal contempt towards the Mon Calamarian.   
Tionne was angry, too? What was going on?  
  
"I can't believe you aren't going to do the   
transplant, Cilghal," Tarissa hissed.  
  
"What?" Callista outbursted, finally revealing her   
presence to the others. Oddly, everyone was surprised   
except Tarissa.  
  
Cilghal looked into Callista's eyes. She tried to   
explain herself, "Callista, I - "  
  
"Why the hell won't you do the transplant?" Callista   
yelled. What was the matter with Cilghal?  
"It's not safe," Cilghal answered sternly.  
"No," Callista scolded as she activated her   
lightsaber. "My midi-chlorians were tampered with before -   
what makes it any different now?"  
  
"She's just being selfish," Tarissa explained.  
  
Tarissa was right. How dare Cilghal! Callista sliced   
at her with the golden lightsaber. She could taste the Dark   
Side flowing through her. The Force was returning to   
Callista at last. She could feel it, and it felt so right.  
  
Cilghal refused to deploy her weapon against a former   
friend. "I advise you to draw your lightsaber," Callista   
warned with a new dark edge to her voice. "For if you will   
not give me back the Force, I will readily kill you in the   
coldest of blood."  
  
************************************************************  
The dancing sabers cast eerie shadows across Tionne's   
silvery hair. That was it. This was wrong. It was dark.   
Tionne had to help Cilghal.  
  
_No_, she was firmly reprimanded.  
  
Anything but this again. _Who are you?_ Tionne   
demanded.  
  
_I am your conscience. I am you._  
  
_No_, Tionne thought. _You're evil._  
  
_Exactly._  
  
Tionne opened her mouth to scream but nothing came   
out. She was not permitted the solace of her own frightened   
voice.  
  
Tionne had to get control of her terror. Who was in   
her mind? Had to concentrate. Who was in her mind? Had to   
feel the Force. Who was in her mind?! It was so obvious   
but so elusively hidden...  
  
_You're Tarissa!_ Tionne screamed inside herself.   
_YOU are the Nightsister spy!_  
  
Tarissa smiled naughtily beside her, but Tionne could   
not turn to see it. She couldn't do anything.  
  
Tarissa's final spell had paralyzed her.  
  
************************************************************  
  
_Callista!_ a mind screamed. _Callista!_  
  
"Stop it!" Callista yelled unto everyone in the room.   
"You're distracting me." She swung her lightsaber at   
Cilghal, taking chunks of the _Blind Specter_'s walls with   
her. Cilghal's constant blocking was becoming dangerously   
more offensive. Callista had to focus the dark energy.  
  
_Callista, it's Tionne!_  
  
Callista whirled around and faced Tionne, purposefully   
leaving her back unguarded. She wanted to see what Cilghal   
would do. "Well, out with it, Tionne!"  
  
Tionne didn't say anything. She just stared into thin   
air.  
  
"What is it, Tionne?" Callista demanded.  
  
Nothing.  
  
"Tionne?"  
  
_She's paralyzed me, Callista!_  
  
Callista's eyes widened. "Who?"  
  
No answer, not even through the Force.  
  
Callista's eyes met those of Tarissa. Of, course!  
  
But no, of course not. Tarissa was a friend. Cilghal   
was the enemy. She had done this to Tionne.  
  
Callista tried to think. Everything was swimming   
through her mind. The anger of the Dark Side was clouding   
her judgment, and she knew it.  
  
So she let go. She let go of the Dark Side - let go   
of the Force itself. Let go for Tionne.  
  
Cilghal was not the enemy. That much was clear now.   
Tarissa had probably been the enemy all along, even when she   
had supposedly tried to help Callista with the Force spells.   
But Callista refused to allow herself anger just yet.   
Tarissa had betrayed her more deeply than anyone ever had   
before, but Callista would not give in to the Dark Side   
again.  
  
"I advise you to stay back," Tarissa warned, raising   
her staff like a shield. "I am the only one who can undo   
Tionne's paralysis, _Jedi_."  
  
"Not so," Cilghal informed Callista. The Mon   
Calamarian stretched her arms out and closed her eyes. Inch   
by inch, regions of Tionne's body started showing movement.   
Cilghal's medical talents were working. They were breaking   
Tarissa's spell.  
  
Cilghal was not the enemy.  
  
************************************************************  
  
Epilogue ---------------  
  
Tionne walked out into Yavin 4's intense night air.   
Sleep was impossible, one of those past things that Tionne   
wasn't allowed to have any more. The memory of Tarissa had   
taken it along with so many other things.  
  
It might of been easier if Tarissa were dead, but she   
wasn't. She was at Dathomir, awaiting trial by the Force   
witches. That had been Tionne's own decision, though. It   
was the Jedi thing to do.  
  
_But I am not a Jedi_, something in her mind stated.   
_I am evil._  
  
"No!" she screamed as she let the tears return. She   
knew it wasn't Tarissa, but somehow she still couldn't get   
control of those thoughts. She just didn't have the   
discipline. Tarissa's mark had been left upon Tionne's   
spirit and maybe it would never leave.  
  
Tionne let herself collapse to the ground as she   
succumbed to her sorrow and terror. "Why?" she screamed.   
"Damn you, Tarissa! Damn you!"  
  
Tionne wept into the long hours of the night as though   
there were not enough tears on the whole moon to satisfy her   
torment. But gradually, a calming sensation came to her   
like soft rain to a desert. At first, it was through the   
Force, but then -  
  
"It's going to be alright, Tionne." Tionne opened her   
soiled eyes to find Master Skywlaker standing next to her.   
"We're going to get through this," he assured her.  
  
"Master, I-" Tionne tried to explain her behavior.  
  
Master Skywlaker would have none of it, though. He   
consoled in his wise, gentle voice, "You don't have to talk   
about it yet, Tionne."  
  
She was relieved to hear that. If only she didn't   
have to think about it yet...  
  
"There's just one thing I want to know," Skywalker   
admitted. "When I gave you leave from the praxeum, you   
never told me who you were going to be with."  
  
Tionne thought of all of them... even Tarissa in some   
odd way. "My sisters," she answered.  
  
Master Skywalker looked confused. He had never known   
Tionne to have a family.  
  
"No, Master," she told him. "My sisters by the   
Force."  


   [1]: mailto:masterwindu@starwarsemail.com
   [2]: http://www.fanfiction.net/text/browse-readfile.cfm?storyid=308906678



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